Strange league rules (3 Viewers)

[sushinsky4tsar]

Not super weird but I don't see it a lot of places: 0.5 points for a first down (rushing/receiving)

We added .2/1st down with the reasoning that a 1st down is an achievement, so a 1 yard 1st down should be worth double a 1 yard run.

Ideally, I would like to see any PPR league become .5 PPF + .5 PPR. That would be a great start. The reality is that one full PP1st and nothing for PPR would make even more sense. A reception in real football doesn't accomplish much if it doesn't come with yardage or a first down (or td).

Catch a seven yard pass on 1st & 20? 0.7 points sounds about right.

Smash forward for a single yard on 3rd or 4th & 1? No issues awarding that effort with 1.1 points.

Get stuck for a 2-yard loss on a broken screen play? No issues awarding that with -.2 points

 

[RenegadeRoy]

.5 PPF + .5 PPR.

This is how it is in the league I'm in. We were always half PPR, but added the first down half point when switching to super flex format to add some balance to non-QBs.

Like you mentioned, a first down is valuable in real football so that value should carry over to fake football.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

.5 PPF + .5 PPR.

This is how it is in the league I'm in. We were always half PPR, but added the first down half point when switching to super flex format to add some balance to non-QBs.

Like you mentioned, a first down is valuable in real football so that value should carry over to fake football.

Kudos to any league that found the light on this. Probably the only twist to the fantasy format that would get me to join a new league in 2025. I think the gatekeepers of fantasy football did a giant disservice to the hobby when PPR became the industry standard instead of PPF. It's like they wanted to give WRS the boost and nobody bothered to check the math.

Tried to steer my league towards it a number of years back. They all want to follow the masses. Don't want to make the effort to find the stats or adjust their rankings. All of which is fair.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

It's becoming pretty common, but I don't understand the faction in my league that's so gung ho on nuking the kicker position.


If the position is based on fantasy kickers having too much of an impact on scoring, I get that side of it. We switched from range scoring several years ago, where 40-49 yarders were all worth 4. Replacing it with decimal scoring where a 48-yarder is now worth 4.8. I do think that tweak has made the position a bit too overpowered.

My solution has been to give the champ the option to go back to our old format or keep decimal scoring where every attempt is a -1. In other words, the miss would still be -1, while a 48-yarder is now only netting them 3.8 points.

The champ also has the ability to 86 the position. It hasn't happened yet, but this year the champ said he would put it to a vote. I get skipping kicker if you're starting a new league (particularly best ball) and just don't want to hassle with another position / roster spot / round of drafting. In a league that has had K for all 20 years, I don't understand the desire to scrap it. Yeah, there's definitely a random factor attached to it. But if the NFL is willing to still let these guys decide close games, why would a fantasy league be above it?

 

[darksideofoz]

.5 PPF + .5 PPR.

This is how it is in the league I'm in. We were always half PPR, but added the first down half point when switching to super flex format to add some balance to non-QBs.

Like you mentioned, a first down is valuable in real football so that value should carry over to fake football.

Kudos to any league that found the light on this. Probably the only twist to the fantasy format that would get me to join a new league in 2025. I think the gatekeepers of fantasy football did a giant disservice to the hobby when PPR became the industry standard instead of PPF. It's like they wanted to give WRS the boost and nobody bothered to check the math.

Tried to steer my league towards it a number of years back. They all want to follow the masses. Don't want to make the effort to find the stats or adjust their rankings. All of which is fair.

The 1st league I started, in 2004, added 1st down scoring when MFL 1st offered it. So around 15 years we've used it. The year before that we had added 0.5 ppr, mostly because the league setting were too favorable to RBs. I never liked PPR for the same reasons you mentioned, but I had to do something to move the league away from 30 RBs getting drafted in the 1st 4 rounds. When 1st down scoring was offered I loved it. Real football good thing should be a fantasy football good thing.

I've had very minimal luck in getting it into other leagues I'm in or commish

 

[pinkstapler]

Lord I hated milestone bonuses. Think I lost more than a few hairs trying to explain to people that the difference between 99 yards and 100 yards should not be equivalent to 20+ yards of points lol. Really the frustration came in when they wouldn't just admit they want their fantasy leagues to be driven by luck and randomness over skill. Nothing will ever remove all luck and randomness from this game; but I want to play in leagues which limit this as much as possible and feel in general the fantasy community has (albeit VERY slowly) moved in this direction. Fractional scoring, snake drafts, even better auction drafts, FAAB waivers over priority or rolling waivers, getting rid of kickers and DEF/ST, extra game against median scoring, etc. People who don't like that stuff should still be able to have a great time and play in leagues with whatever settings they want; but stop living in denial or taking it as an insult that settings like that shift the balance away from predictability/skill and prioritize random luck.

Also, this year is going to be my first new league with PPFD (1 point per FD), so I'm really interested in how it works. They also lowered PPR scoring to .25 for WR and .5 for TE. Unfortunately for me it's a dynasty league, so I will be learning on the fly and probably put myself at a disadvantage already because the more I read post draft, the more I find out RB scoring increases drastically with these settings. Of course I more or less punted on RB most of the draft haha. I do like that it emphasizes things that are a little more important in the real game; FD are much more important than a reception. This is a time where it makes sense to try to align fantasy with real world football.

Unfortunately, IMO, people use this argument too many times to a detriment; kickers probably the most widely used example. "Kickers are super important in real life football so they should be in fantasy!" Except there is practically zero predictability with the position; it is almost entirely game script dependent and changes not just game by game, but drive by drive. Sure, some kickers are more talented than others, but if they are on an offensive juggernaut, they are rarely ever getting called on to kick FGs. You can just look back through historical scoring and see half of the top 12 scoring kickers change year over year (over year over year) because it's almost wholly dependent on game script/coaches decisions. Also 95% of the scoring systems leagues use are whack and aren't relative to the skill involved, nor does it collate with the scoring for the rest of your roster. In my one league that held onto the position the longest, I at least was able to force through changes to scoring that was more like every other position. Any made FG received a base score of 1, which was then incrementally increased by the distance of the kick (I think it was .05 per yard), and missed FGs were the same with a base negative for a miss which increased or decreased depending on how far away it was. It relegated the scoring to closer to a WR3/flex player outside of obvious amazing performances.

 

[Scoresman]

I'm in a league that is superflex, but also only starts 1 player at each position.

So

1 QB
1 RB
1 WR
1 TE
1 Superflex
K
D

Obviously QBs are premium here, but I've often wondered what the optimal draft strategy is considering every position is a one off essentially.

 

[wlwiles]

Question for those that do points for first downs - if it's a pass, does the receiver or the QB or both get the first down points?

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

.5 PPF + .5 PPR.

This is how it is in the league I'm in. We were always half PPR, but added the first down half point when switching to super flex format to add some balance to non-QBs.

Like you mentioned, a first down is valuable in real football so that value should carry over to fake football.

Kudos to any league that found the light on this. Probably the only twist to the fantasy format that would get me to join a new league in 2025. I think the gatekeepers of fantasy football did a giant disservice to the hobby when PPR became the industry standard instead of PPF. It's like they wanted to give WRS the boost and nobody bothered to check the math.

Tried to steer my league towards it a number of years back. They all want to follow the masses. Don't want to make the effort to find the stats or adjust their rankings. All of which is fair.

The 1st league I started, in 2004, added 1st down scoring when MFL 1st offered it. So around 15 years we've used it. The year before that we had added 0.5 ppr, mostly because the league setting were too favorable to RBs. I never liked PPR for the same reasons you mentioned, but I had to do something to move the league away from 30 RBs getting drafted in the 1st 4 rounds. When 1st down scoring was offered I loved it. Real football good thing should be a fantasy football good thing.

I've had very minimal luck in getting it into other leagues I'm in or commish

This is a great point and highlights the fact that I'm probably being very unfair on my previous comment to the powers that steered the boat towards PPR. Given what has happened to the RB position, I have no issues giving them their .25/.50/full point on every short yardage conversion in 2025.

Much harder sell back in the days of a workhorse RBs occupying most backfields. Making those RBs eligible would have made them even more overpowered. Alternatively, it would have been awkward to award WRs with a conversion bonus and not RBs. Hence, PPR. Even though it resulted in one brand of stud RB becoming even more overpowered than they would have been had they went the first down route. Years later, NFL personnel trends completely solves the fantasy perils of too many overpowered workhorse RBs.

Probably highlights the fact that fantasy needs to adapt with the game.

 

[wlwiles]

The most "wacky" rule we've ever implemented was what we called Winner Poaching.

Let's say Team A beats Team B in their weekly matchup. Team A then gets to poach any starting player from Team B's roster that week, but they have to give back a starter from their own team, and it has to be from the same RB/WR/etc. position that they poached from.

Some teams would always poach studs, for example we had Kelce (in his TE1 heyday) swap teams 8 or 9 different times. Some teams used it to avoid byes, as they'd poach a top player whose bye was over with for their own top player with a bye coming up. We inadvertently ganged up on one team for 4 weeks straight, always poaching his best player and sticking him with one that was about to have his bye the following week. Some teams would hide their studs on the bench in a tough matchup (injury riddled, lots of byes, facing the #1, etc.) to prevent them from getting poached. Made for some interesting twists...

 

[darksideofoz]

Question for those that do points for first downs - if it's a pass, does the receiver or the QB or both get the first down points?

Depends what you want. We used to do 0.5 ppfd for catches and rushes, and 0.25 for passes. When we switched our 1 FLEX position to SUPERFLEX we got rid of the passing 1st down scoring as part of the nerfing to QB scoring to get them closer to the other FLEX positions.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

I'm in a league that is superflex, but also only starts 1 player at each position.

So

1 QB
1 RB
1 WR
1 TE
1 Superflex
K
D

Obviously QBs are premium here, but I've often wondered what the optimal draft strategy is considering every position is a one off essentially.

That is some commitment to minimalism. Less than most NFL offenses on any given play. I've heard of leagues reducing the mando RB to just one spot, but doing the same for WR is aggressive.

At first glance, looks to be all about:

1. stud TE
2. stud RB
3. stud running QB

I would think a lot of variability depending on what the the top of the position tiers looks like in any given year, but I'm sure the temptation to nab a top TE is always omnipresent. I would bet heavily on the Brock Bowers team having the league's best record last season. I can only imagine how high Aubrey might have been selected.

 

[RenegadeRoy]

Lord I hated milestone bonuses.

I hate milestone bonuses because it's such a "win more" point system that is detached from real football. If you have a guy getting 100 yards... he's already having a great game! Why does ne need extra points?

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Thankful that I've never had milestone scoring foisted on me. I will admit that I like explosive play bonuses on individual plays as long as it doesn't go too far. That's technically "win more", but I think it's generally warranted. In addition to the incremental yards and reception tally, I don't mind seeing a 40+ yard TD get awarded a little extra love to separate it from a guy falling in to the endzone after getting his tush pushed.

Is it fair that the 41-yard score qualifies and a 38-yarder doesn't? No, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. Just have to make sure that the line doesn't equate to a huge point jump.

 

[Gruden's Keyboard]

 

[Gruden's Keyboard]

 

[Hurl Bruce]

Keeper league I'm in started with keep 3 guys. We added a keeper each year until we hit 6. The next year was 5 and on back down to 3. It makes for some interesting roster management strategies.

So it just keeps going 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 4 5 etc every year?

That’s kinda fun actually.

Yeah. Perpetual ebb and flow. If you hit on the upswing, then you're sitting pretty for at least 5 years. It's deciding who to cut bait on on the way down that becomes difficult. There's also the decision between trading those guys you're dropping for picks or to throw them back into the pool to push better players to you in the first round. There's a lot of pick trading similar to dynasty.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

It's becoming pretty common, but I don't understand the faction in my league that's so gung ho on nuking the kicker position.


If the position is based on fantasy kickers having too much of an impact on scoring, I get that side of it. We switched from range scoring several years ago, where 40-49 yarders were all worth 4. Replacing it with decimal scoring where a 48-yarder is now worth 4.8. I do think that tweak has made the position a bit too overpowered.

My solution has been to give the champ the option to go back to our old format or keep decimal scoring where every attempt is a -1. In other words, the miss would still be -1, while a 48-yarder is now only netting them 3.8 points.

The champ also has the ability to 86 the position. It hasn't happened yet, but this year the champ said he would put it to a vote. I get skipping kicker if you're starting a new league (particularly best ball) and just don't want to hassle with another position / roster spot / round of drafting. In a league that has had K for all 20 years, I don't understand the desire to scrap it. Yeah, there's definitely a random factor attached to it. But if the NFL is willing to still let these guys decide close games, why would a fantasy league be above it?

I’m in 5 dynasty leagues now. 2 are 16-team IDP+K

3 are 12-team with no K, no D/ST

I don’t miss them at all. It’s still a start 10 format, but 1/2/3/1 then 2 FL, 1 SF.

Nice high scoring games without K or D/ST to stink the place up.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

It's becoming pretty common, but I don't understand the faction in my league that's so gung ho on nuking the kicker position.


If the position is based on fantasy kickers having too much of an impact on scoring, I get that side of it. We switched from range scoring several years ago, where 40-49 yarders were all worth 4. Replacing it with decimal scoring where a 48-yarder is now worth 4.8. I do think that tweak has made the position a bit too overpowered.

My solution has been to give the champ the option to go back to our old format or keep decimal scoring where every attempt is a -1. In other words, the miss would still be -1, while a 48-yarder is now only netting them 3.8 points.

The champ also has the ability to 86 the position. It hasn't happened yet, but this year the champ said he would put it to a vote. I get skipping kicker if you're starting a new league (particularly best ball) and just don't want to hassle with another position / roster spot / round of drafting. In a league that has had K for all 20 years, I don't understand the desire to scrap it. Yeah, there's definitely a random factor attached to it. But if the NFL is willing to still let these guys decide close games, why would a fantasy league be above it?

I’m in 5 dynasty leagues now. 2 are 16-team IDP+K

3 are 12-team with no K, no D/ST

I don’t miss them at all. It’s still a start 10 format, but 1/2/3/1 then 2 FL, 1 SF.

Nice high scoring games without K or D/ST to stink the place up.

I can understand the desire to skip it. Just seems like a random factor that's part of the real game and really easy to accommodate for it in fantasy without too much effort. I can see where it would get annoying if you're managing 5 teams.

You know it's the fantasy playoffs when you're checking wind forecasts and studying Raymond James Stadium in google maps to see if the stands will knock down the wind or if it will be filtering through the open end. Also, I would miss the post-draft cattiness of mocking the guy that pulled the trigger in round 10, only for the entire league to be terrorized when that K goes off on a prolific season.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Just seems like a random factor

Tbh I think that’s why most people hate them.

 

[Gally]

Lord I hated milestone bonuses.

I hate milestone bonuses because it's such a "win more" point system that is detached from real football. If you have a guy getting 100 yards... he's already having a great game! Why does ne need extra points?

In a way to help balance scoring across positions we instituted a milestone bonus to TE's at 20 yds. They get 1 pt per 15 yds and a 5 pt bonus at 20 yds. It has served us well in that it boosted TE's to relevancy without making the upper tier all powerful. It has worked well to keep TE's relevant with respect to other positions.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Just seems like a random factor

Tbh I think that’s why most people hate them.

Most definitely. I think the fact that NFL teams are more willing to give their guy a swing from 62, and once phenomenal kicking feats are becoming semi-automatic has something to do with it too. In a decimal scoring league with 4 point passing TDs, I'm not sure that four mid-range field goals from a K should be trumping the TD points awarded to the QB for a 4TD game.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Just seems like a random factor

Tbh I think that’s why most people hate them.

Most definitely. I think the fact that NFL teams are more willing to give their guy a swing from 62, and once phenomenal kicking feats are becoming semi-automatic has something to do with it too. In a decimal scoring league with 4 point passing TDs, I'm not sure that four mid-range field goals from a K should be trumping the TD points awarded to the QB for a 4TD game.

Oh, believe me, I get it. And both of my 16 team dynasty leagues I drafted Brandon Aubrey as a rookie. Everyone in those leagues hates my guts when he puts up 25 points and their running back only puts up 12.

 

[Gally]

Just seems like a random factor

Tbh I think that’s why most people hate them.

Most definitely. I think the fact that NFL teams are more willing to give their guy a swing from 62, and once phenomenal kicking feats are becoming semi-automatic has something to do with it too. In a decimal scoring league with 4 point passing TDs, I'm not sure that four mid-range field goals from a K should be trumping the TD points awarded to the QB for a 4TD game.

Oh, believe me, I get it. And both of my 16 team dynasty leagues I drafted Brandon Aubrey as a rookie. Everyone in those leagues hates my guts when he puts up 25 points and they’re running back only puts up 12.

FF is supposed to be fun. Having a kicker have a huge day and be useful is unique as most leagues are going away from it. My longest standing league (started in 1985) was well ahead of the curve. Our staring lineup has a flex spot that can be a QB or a K and many times people will start two kickers and it is warranted. It makes for interesting roster construction and flexibility that no other league has.

Scoring warrants it as QB's get 1 pt every 50 yds (starting at 150 yds gets you 3 pts. 149 gets you zero). It's 3 pts per passing TD and -1 for int. So a QB with 245 yds, 2 TD's and 1 int nets you 10 pts (you get a 5 pts for 200-249 yds). While kickers essentially get 1 pt per 10 yds of FG up to 44 yds. Then it flips to every 5 yds after that. So a kicker with 2 FG (38 yds and 46 yds) and 2 XPTs would net 10 pts.

We wanted to have every position equal across tiers. I mean kickers are people too. It works for us and makes kickers exciting. Aubry is fun to have.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

As random as it is on any given week, the reality is that there is strategy to the K position. There are ways to minimize the dud weeks while still giving yourself a shot at the boom weeks. As a commish of a league that has kept it for 20 years, I can tell you with certainty that there's a difference between how the sharks actively manage this position throughout the season compared to less active league members.

I consider it the ultimate hustle position for fantasy football owners. Hustle 20 times, 13 times it won't matter, 3 times your hustle is shooting yourself in the foot, and 4 times it will help you.

 

[Keith R]

I've toyed with the idea of treating flex players as though they are "coming off the bench" and giving them 1/2 credit for their point total. That would add strategy in the form of making sure you start your top 2 RBs in the RB spots and the 3rd as the flex; having your top RB "come off the bench" instead of "starting" would be detrimental (though not as much as an outright benching). I've never found a server that could support such a format though.

 

[Gally]

I've toyed with the idea of treating flex players as though they are "coming off the bench" and giving them 1/2 credit for their point total. That would add strategy in the form of making sure you start your top 2 RBs in the RB spots and the 3rd as the flex; having your top RB "come off the bench" instead of "starting" would be detrimental (though not as much as an outright benching). I've never found a server that could support such a format though.

We have toyed with the idea of "scheming" against your opponent. Basically you get to choose a player to scheme against and that player gets 75% of their point total. You get to pick one player each week to scheme against.

Like you said, can't really find a platform that will do that.

 

[Runkle]

We drug test each owner according to the NFLPA banned substances list. Weekly.

 

[-OZ-]

Possibly my favorite unique rule - starting a coach.

You are required to start a HC each and every week regardless if you roster a HC on Bye Week or not. However, if you choose to start a HC on Bye your team will be penalized -5 points as this will be treated as a "Loss" by your Coach and subsequently impact your overall weekly score. You may acquire a HC via trade or Waiver's that is not on Bye to avoid this automatic penalty.

Coach's Win = 5 pts
Coach's Point Differential = 1 pt per 5 (So win by 10 and get 7 pts. Lose by 10 and get -2 pts. Win by 3 and get 5 pts. Lose by 3 and get 0 pts).
Choosing not to start a HC when one is available (either on your roster or WW) = -5 pts
Having no HC available to start = -2 pts

They don’t score a lot. The best coach last year (Campbell) scored 6.7 ppg, the lowest starting caliber scored 2.6 ppg (Ryans, mcvay, Gannon). The worst coach (stefanski) scored -0.8 ppg.

Many teams roster 2 coaches, quite a few just roll with one. If you can get the coach for your favorite team and they’re doing well you just hang on to him. Occasionally you’ll see a 7th round pick get traded for one.